Announcements & News

[br][center][permalink][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/updates/devupdate.png[/img][/permalink][/center] Hey there,[i] Flight Rising[/i] community! It’s been a good long while since we released a new [b]dragon breed[/b], and you deserve an update on how development is going. This is going to be a longer-than-standard Dev Update, so refill your water, stretch your legs, and get comfortable. We're going to share with you [b]how our team tackles dragon breed development[/b], as well as what changes and updates you can expect going forward. [center][permalink][b]Click here to continue reading.[/b][/permalink][/center] [more] ----- [b][size=6]The Most Frequently Asked Question[/size][/b] [center][b]“Are we getting a new breed?”[/b][/center] The short answer is: [b]Yes![/b] New breeds are and always have been in development. For the life of the game we will continue to add them...but it unfortunately will not be soon. Not a great way to start, but bear with us. We’ve got a longer answer for you and it’s the primary reason for this update. [emoji=new friend] So let’s dive in! [center][emoji=left wing] [emoji=right wing][/center] [b][size=5]Stormlight Workshop, LLC[/size][/b] [center][img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/stormlight-workshop-llc-undel-akiri-xhaztol.png[/img][/center] In order for us to lay out where we are with new breed development, we need to start with who we are as a company. A lot of the planning decisions we have to make year-to-year are heavily influenced by how we operate the company, so we wanted to talk a little bit about that. Stormlight Workshop, LLC is a company committed to maintaining a healthy work/life balance and environment for our employees. We pay both our employees and contractors competitive rates and our full-time employees receive comprehensive benefits. We believe that if you work on a game in [i]any[/i] capacity—be it software engineering, design, community, support, marketing, etc—you are a game developer. It’s part of the reason we try to stay away from older terms like “admins” with regards to talking about our team; the work is a lot more comprehensive than that. We also know that mistakes happen when developers are overworked or burned out. In order to address this, we do our best when planning to actively avoid the development phenomenon known as “crunch.” [b][size=4]What’s “crunch?”[/size][/b] Essentially, “crunch” is when what would be weeks or months of development time is condensed into a period of days or weeks due to poor planning, inadequate staffing, and arbitrary deadlines. It’s the primary contributor to developer burnout, and can be very damaging physically and psychologically. It can take weeks for a person to recover from a crunch period, possibly longer. That’s obviously not okay and not healthy. We’re not going to do that to our people and, by extension, [I]Flight Rising.[/I] There may be times where a "crunch" situation may happen—but that should be the exception, not the norm. When we plan a feature or addition, we pad our schedule for extra time if needed and frequently check in with developers to see if they need additional support to stay on schedule. [center][emoji=left wing] [emoji=right wing][/center] And this brings us back to the state of new dragon breeds. [b][size=5]Dragons are the heart of [i]Flight Rising![/I][/size][/b] Dragons and what you can do with them is what makes [i]Flight Rising[/i] what it is. You’re here [i]because dragons![/I] [emoji=special eyes] But the very thing that epitomizes [i]Flight Rising[/i] is the same thing that’s delaying new breed releases. We know many of you are aware of this fact and understand, but we also can’t assume everyone does. This is not a subject we can afford to be opaque about. [b]The delay on new breeds is significant, and is not poised to become much better in the future. It is directly due to the fact that the work required to introduce new dragon breeds becomes more complicated over time and exponentially increases.[/b] The art asset backlog for a new breed grows with every content update as we continue adding apparel or genes to the game's ecosystem. While we factor new breeds into production of newer apparel art and genes, they still need to have older art fitted to them. Let’s give a few examples: [b]Apparel[/b] [LIST] [*][i]Flight Rising[/i] has over [b]2,600 unique apparel items[/b] as of writing this. [*]Each of these apparel items requires [b]28 pieces of individual art (both male and female dragons of each breed).[/b] [*]For those calculating along with us: that’s [b]over 72,000 images[/b] across all breeds. [*]To catch [b]one new breed[/b] up to the [b]current[/b] apparel backlog, it requires creating [b]5,200 new images[/b], each of which needs to be properly drawn out to fit the breed, color-matched to those already out there, etc. [/LIST] [b]Genes[/b] [LIST] [*][i]Flight Rising[/i] has [b]over 75 unique genes[/b] (including Basic). [*]To catch one new breed up to the current gene backlog requires art treatment for [b]male[/b], [b]female[/b], and [b]hatchlings[/b]. That’s [b]225 gene templates per breed[/b]. [/LIST] [b][size=5]Can’t we just put the entire art team on new breeds?[/size][/b] This seems like the obvious and simple fix, right? But doing this would [b]halt or significantly delay:[/b] [LIST] [*]New features [*]Fairground games [*]Coliseum venues [*]Gene releases [*]Apparel releases [*]Familiar Releases [*]Event Releases [*]Flight Festivals [/LIST] We have to ask ourselves as developers, what’s worse? Long breaks between new breeds but regular content updates or [i]slightly[/i] shorter breaks between new breeds and almost no regular content updates? Placing the entire art team on new breed development grinds the entire project to a halt. Because our game and similar sites within this genre of the game industry rely upon a regular cadence of new content, this isn’t an option for us. [b][size=5]Why can’t we just hire more artists?[/size][/b] It’s not a matter of not [i]wanting[/i] to hire more artists. We’d love to hire all the artists and staffing we could ever need, but we have to do so responsibly and at a pace that is reasonable for onboarding new people. It also involves paying them a fair rate and investing time into teaching them the [i]Flight Rising[/i] style guide so the artwork is consistent. If we don’t factor in these needs we risk creating a hectic and unsustainable business. [b][size=5]What are we doing to address this?[/size][/b] So… breeds are difficult and time-consuming to create, but it does not mean we aren’t developing them. As we said above, [b]dragons are the heart of the game[/b]. In fact, we have artists on the team whose sole focus is catching up our gene and apparel backlog for new breed development. We want to bring you into the development process a bit more. Future Developer Updates [b]may include straightforward progress reports[/b] about how far along we are in new breed development. These updates are not intended to be ‘hype’ nor will any team member tease new breeds in these updates. [center][emoji=left wing] [emoji=right wing][/center] [b]But that isn’t all we are doing...[/b] [b][size=5]The Bounty of the Elements[/size][/b] The strange energies that literally changed the face of Sornieth didn’t stop there. Stirred by the elemental upheaval, [b]ancient dragons from eras long gone and forgotten by time have awoken[/b]. They now venture forth into this starkly different and modern world. Many of these archaic creatures were crafted by the gods when they first began to vie for territory. Hastily designed, these creations were needed to carve the land into distinct realms, and remain very different from one another to this day. Not all ancient dragons were created by the elemental gods—others sprang forth from pure coagulated magic, owing no allegiance at all. These ancient dragons are primordial in nature. The circumstances surrounding their creation make them physically incompatible with any other dragon on Sornieth. While they may discover alliances or work together with both modern and other ancient dragon breeds, [b]they can't and will never be able to procreate with them[/b]. ----- [center][img]http://www.flightrising.com/dropbox/logo_ancientbreeds_2kff320.png[/img][/center] From this point forward, we will be referring to all currently-released breeds as [b]modern breeds[/b], and adding a new breed category called [b]ancient breeds[/b]. Modern and ancient breed development will run concurrently with another from this point forward. [b][size=6]The Ancient Breeds System[/size][/b] We are intentionally developing ancient breeds to accommodate the need for new dragons in the game while still allowing us the ability to continue to release features, content, and [b]modern breeds[/b]. Ancient breeds do not contribute to the backlog because, well, they don’t touch it! Our main goal with ancient breeds is to [b]release them more regularly[/b] than we do modern breeds. In order to facilitate that, they’ll need to operate a little bit differently... [b][size=5]Restrictions & Details[/b][/size] The system for ancient breeds is based on [b]exclusivity[/b] and [b]efficiency[/b]. This means: [b][size=4]Breeding[/size][/b] They can only mate with dragons of the same ancient breed. The five (5) generations restriction will still apply. [b][size=4]Genes[/size][/b] Ancient breeds will have their own unique genes and we aim to have several genes ready to go alongside the release of every ancient breed. Modern gene scrolls and gene scrolls created for other ancient breeds can’t be applied to them. [b][size=4]Apparel[/size][/b] Ancient breeds can’t wear apparel. We know this is going to be a bit of a disappointment for some players. But no apparel also means we can now do some really wild and cool tertiary gene designs that break the dragon silhouette the lines of designs like horns, extra tails, chitin, etc. Since they don’t need to wear apparel, ancient breeds also allow us to break the “One head, four legs, two wings, one tail” template. For example, dragons like wyverns, multiple-headed dragons, drakes, and more! [emoji=guardian love] [b][size=4]Skins & Accents[/size][/b] You'll still be able to create custom skins and accents for these breeds, which will allow you to add some complexity or style to your ancient dragons. [b]NOTE:[/b] Line rules will still apply to player-submitted skins and accents. [b][size=4]Breed Change Scrolls[/size][/b] It will be possible to change any of your modern dragons into an ancient dragon but using an ancient breed change scroll on a modern dragon will remove all of its apparel, skin, and reset its genes to Basic. It will also be possible to change any of your ancient dragons into a modern dragon, but using any breed change scroll (modern or ancient) on an ancient dragon will remove any applied custom skins and reset its genes to Basic. [center][emoji=left wing] [emoji=right wing][/center] We understand that these limitations may not be for everyone. Ancient breed options are restricted for a reason—this is how we can continue introducing dragon breeds to [I]Flight Rising[/I] without the delays inherent to modern breeds and without forcing our team to work in unsustainable or detrimental (“crunch”) conditions. [center][emoji=left wing] [emoji=right wing][/center] [b][size=5]Ancient Breeds FAQ[/size][/b] [b][size=4]When will the first breed be released?[/size][/b] We will be introducing [I]Flight Rising’s[/I] first ancient breed as part of our [b]6th Anniversary Celebration[/b] on [b]June 8, 2019[/b]. This will serve as the debut for the system. [b][size=4]What’s the breeding cooldown for Ancient Breeds?[/size][/b] [b]All[/b] ancient breeds will have a [b]20-day (Common) cooldown[/b], regardless of how they are acquired through gameplay. Just like with modern breeds, some will be available through treasure, gems, and various game features, etc. [b][size=4]What about non-gene specialty items (like boons)?[/size][/b] Nothing is changing here. You can use all specialty items on ancient breeds the same way you can with modern breeds. If you want an eternally youthful ancient hatchling for your avatar, you can! If you want to scatter an ancient dragon’s colors, you can! [b][size=4]Can we win ancient dragons as part of Roundsey’s Raffle Roulette?[/size][/b] Yes! Roundsey may offer [b]ancient dragons[/b] or [b]ancient dragon genes[/b] during her weekly raffle once they’re available. [b][size=4]Can you explain what you mean by "concurrent development"?[/size][/b] The team at Stormlight Workshop, LLC is always working on several things at once. As a group we delegate projects based on strengths and skills, and generally have a lot of things cooking at once to keep the project rolling along. Most of the time, development on one thing does not cause impediments for any others (except in some cases where we may need to focus-fire on one thing as a team), and these multiple fronts can sort of be visualized as a set of "lanes". [center][img]http://www.flightrising.com/dropbox/fr_dev_pipelines.png[/img][/center] Adding Ancient Breeds as its own development pipeline will not impede that of Modern Breed development, nor of the multitude of other initiatives we have in progress. ----- [b][size=6]To Recap[/size][/b] We’ve thrown a lot of information at you today. Let’s recap the most important points: [LIST] [*][b]Modern dragon breed development continues uninterrupted.[/b] [*]Modern dragon breed development is a slow process due to the exponentially increasing backlog. [list][*]We have artists solely dedicated to the backlog. [*]We will not set an arbitrary deadline and “crunch” development to meet it. “Crunch” is bad.[/list] [*]Ancient dragon breed development helps to address the delay between new modern breeds. [*]Ancient dragon breeds are developed with exclusivity and efficiency at the forefront. [*]Ancient dragon breeds will have restrictions (no cross-breeding, no apparel, etc). [list][*]These restrictions make it possible for them to be released at a more regular cadence compared to modern breeds.[/list] [/LIST] We're excited to bring the ancient breeds to life for you. They mean [b]more variety more often[/b] for you and for the future of [I]Flight Rising.[/I] ----- [center][I]And before we go...[/I][/center] [b][size=6]The Missing Tidelord[/size][/b] [center][url="http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=wiki&article=103"] [img]http://flightrising.com/dropbox/lore_water8964518.png[/img][/url][/center] Water dragons from all across Sornieth have noticed the absence of their missing deity. Paralyzed by fear, confusion, and grief, activity in the Sea of a Thousand Currents has halted. The seers of Water have gathered at the edge of the Leviathan Trench, seeking the answer to question they dare not ask...[i] [url="http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=wiki&article=103"]has the Tidelord fallen?[/url][/I] [center][emoji=water rune][/center]

We ask everyone stays on topic for today's Developer Update. There's a lot of ground covered so we'll be removing any off-topic replies to this update. Thank you!